Does moral commitment predict resistance to corruption? experimental evidence from a bribery game

Abstract

Corruption is ubiquitous in practice and has severe negative consequences for organizations and societies at large. Drawing on a laboratory experiment, we propose that individuals high in moral commitment are less likely to engage in corrupt behaviors and prefer foregoing financial benefits. Specifically, we posit that individuals refrain from corruption (i) the more they endorse integrity (incorruptibility) as a protected value and (ii) the higher their level of Honesty-Humility. The results of a two-step experiment largely support our expectations: people who treat compromises to integrity as unacceptable were less willing to accept bribes, and Honesty-Humility decreased bribe-giving. The findings are robust to demographic variables (e.g., age, gender, cultural background) and additional personal characteristics (e.g., risk tolerance, dispositional greed) and have important implications for ongoing theory-building efforts and business practice.

Are Guilt-Prone Power-Holders Less Corrupt? Evidence From Two Online Experiments

“…First, guilt-proneness is never the only moralrelated trait that could predict corrupt behaviors. Indeed, a recent study has identified a crucial role of the honestyhumility trait and integrity in predicting corrupt acts (Tanner et al, 2022). Therefore, it would be intriguing to investigate whether and how guilt-proneness, together with other personality traits, can serve as a reliable anticorruption predictor in personnel selection (Cohen et al, 2011(Cohen et al, , 2012.…”

“…Bribery, as one of the most common forms of corruption, occurs in interpersonal contexts in which a power-holder abuses the entrusted power to seek personal gains through immoral collaboration with a briber, often at the expense of others' interests (Barr & Serra, 2009;Ko¨bis et al, 2016). Although previous research has identified several macro-or micro-level antecedents that shape and influence bribery (Lambsdorff, 2006;Lange et al, 2022;Serra & Wantchekon, 2012), little effort has been made to explore the large interindividual differences in bribery affected by individuals' characteristics and the underlying psychological processes (Tanner et al, 2022;Thielmann et al, 2021).…”

Does dispositional greed predispose employees to hide knowledge?

“…On the negative stance, it is abhorred in all major religions (Tickle, 2004; Oka and Kuijt, 2014), historically perceived in the negative (Haynes et al , 2015) and blamed in principle for most fraudulent behavior in organizations (Brummer, 2014; Burke, 2009). Indeed, some empirical studies favor the negative perspective by showing that greedy people are willing to accept a bribe (Tanner et al , 2022), behave more unethically (Seuntjens et al , 2019) and are more corrupt (Li et al , 2021).…”

Intrinsic Motivation vs. Corruption? Experimental Evidence on the Performance of Officials

“…Likewise, Cohn et al (2019) observe a lower willingness to return a lost wallet in countries perceived to be corrupt. Tanner et al (2022) observe that experimental subjects who are committed to moral principles are less willing to take bribes. Other experimental studies identify methods to increase honesty through moral reminders and framing effects (e.g.…”